Re: The Official Hello Everyone Thread

Hi everyone!

I've been a Mac user for most of my life, but I've gotten tired of the OS. I've been writing a lot of code for the past few years, and over time that led me to do more and more things at the console. I got more and more frustrated with the clunkiness of using Mac OS in this manner (two different unofficial package managers, programs written for Linux environments would often crash, etc.). Also, I really like to tinker around with stuff, and OS X seems to have become more and more of a straightjacket with every release (OS <=9 had lots of problems but I miss re-skinning with Resedit and whatnot ).

All of this made me want to try Linux, and I was attracted by the open-ended, DIY attitude that Arch has. I ran it in VirtualBox for a few months to use as a programming environment and loved it, so last week I gave it its own partition and started using it for everything.

I'm still learning a lot, and everything's still not quite set up how I want it, but I love how "where there's a will, there's a way" the whole experience is. Every day something I couldn't figure out how to do the day before becomes clear.

Re: The Official Hello Everyone Thread

Hi Guys

After about 4 years of Linux using Debian and Ubuntu variants i am now using arch on my old laptop, a Toshiba Tecra a3x. Currently dual booting with LMDE but wanting to remove and leave a single OS on it. So far i love it but i have one gripe about the having to use AUR to install the thunar-shares-plugin and some of its dependencies.

Re: The Official Hello Everyone Thread

i have one gripe about the having to use AUR to install the thunar-shares-plugin and some of its dependencies.

Why is that a bad thing?

You only just started using Arch Linux and you already hate the AUR?

No i dont hate AUR, actually i think AUR is great, but it doesn't make much sense to have something as core as standard thunar plugin like thunar-shares-plugin in AUR, download it and some of it dependancies like thunar-vfs and hal and then manually compile and install. Unless i am missing something here about doing this automatically.

Re: The Official Hello Everyone Thread

kiwiarch wrote:

No i dont hate AUR, actually i think AUR is great, but it doesn't make much sense to have something as core as standard thunar plugin like thunar-shares-plugin in AUR, download it and some of it dependancies like thunar-vfs and hal and then manually compile and install. Unless i am missing something here about doing this automatically.

I think you are missing just a few bits and pieces... Maybe this will help!

As was mentioned, there's nothing particularly "core" or "standard" about the "thunar-shares-plugin" in regards to Arch Linux packages. Pretty much the only software that is considered "core" for Arch Linux is the software needed to boot to a command line.

If an official Arch Linux package maintainer wants to be the maintainer of a package then it will be in the official repositories. If not, then a regular Arch Linux user will maintain it in the AUR.

Official packages are "pre-packaged" (but you can still build it yourself if you want). Stuff in the AUR is "build it on your computer then install". Other than that not not much of a difference between the two. (Both are made using "PKGBUILD" build script files, both are packaged up with the "makepkg" command...)

After a quick glance, it looks to me like the software you want to use ("thunar-shares-plugin") is deprecated in a sense, because it relies on HAL. HAL has been deprecated by its developers (and therefore Arch Linux) for quite some time. That's why something as big HAL is in the AUR and not in the official repositories. I don't know what the "thunar-vfs" package hasn't been updated by its developers to use... whatever replaced HAL.

You don't have to manually compile software from the AUR, but I recommend doing so at first to learn how it works. Find a piece of software you want to use from the AUR and learn how to install it. (Install dependencies, download the tarball of the AUR files for the package, untar them, make the package using a single "makepkg" command, then install the newly created local package using a single "pacman" command). ...After you learn how to do that, I'd recommend installing and using an AUR helper to automate the process. For me, the only difference between installing an official package and a package from the AUR is a bit of time. Other than that, it's super easy and convenient to use the AUR.

(I invite anyone to correct any big mistakes in my post, but otherwise should probably stick to saying "hello" in this thread. )

Re: The Official Hello Everyone Thread

i have one gripe about the having to use AUR to install the thunar-shares-plugin and some of its dependencies.

Why is that a bad thing?

You only just started using Arch Linux and you already hate the AUR?

No i dont hate AUR, actually i think AUR is great, but it doesn't make much sense to have something as core as standard thunar plugin like thunar-shares-plugin in AUR, download it and some of it dependancies like thunar-vfs and hal and then manually compile and install. Unless i am missing something here about doing this automatically.

What's the difference between the AUR and *BSD ports?

I may have to CONSOLE you about your usage of ridiculously easy graphical interfaces...Look ma, no mouse.

Re: The Official Hello Everyone Thread

Hello Everyone

I am a Newbie but familiar with some of the different flavours of Linux on the market and have installed a few on my home PCs, I really wanted something which I could build up the way I wanted and Arch seems to fit the build.

I am fairly computer literate and have been exposed in the past to (Solaris xx) can’t even remember the version it’s so long ago, since that time I have been pretty much hands off.

I currently have Arch installed as a Virtualbox VM on my Windows 8.1 Laptop. I am trying to setup a CCNA/CCNP Lab and I am hoping to get Openvswitch/Quagga/GNS3 etc. working on this platform.

I have to say it was a joy carrying out the installation as it reminded me of my Solaris days where you had to knife and fork the OS onto the system.

I’m on a very steep learning curve but hopefully I can stay the course and enjoy the ride.

Re: The Official Hello Everyone Thread

O hai! Residents of the world of Arch! (eww, that was long )

I am Siddhant from India and I'm currently a Computer Science undergrad. I've been with computers ever since I can remember. I want every child of the world to start his/her computer journey with a Linux distro so that a DIY collaborative culture is developed on a world scale, and ultimately a whole generation of Arch users/hackers will come to the fore. Arch Linux installation was one of the happiest moments of my life. I have worked on Windows( 98, ME, XP, Vista, 7, 8), Mac OS X, Fedora, Ubuntu(12.04, 13.10), Scientific Linux and Kali Linux. I just completed installing all the software I need to get started for now, and nothing could be more convenient than pacman and packer( for AUR).

Cheers

Siddhant

The "sh" in my username is actually my shortened last name, and not a pseudo-geeky attempt at the shell. After 16 years of being caged by Windows, I have now decided to play with Linux and enter the world of FOSS.

Re: The Official Hello Everyone Thread

Hello Arch world!

I've been playing with Linux on and off for several years and am currently in my Junior year of college. All I have to say is Arch is by far the most rewarding and the easiest distro I have come across. It may look like a headache to Linux newbies and all OSX/Windows people, but between pacman, the wiki, the AUR, and the forums I don't think any other operating system can match the support and reliability of Arch. Frankly, I came to Arch because everytime I had a problem with other distros I eventually found the most information about various programs on the Arch wiki. Of course they were not always as relevant, but now that I use Arch.....

I had no problems with installation, finding the right drivers, or configuring the system for my hardware. I got straight to the point and set up i3 as well, I can hardly even look at stacking WM's anymore! I hope to provide some useful contributions to the community soon.

Re: The Official Hello Everyone Thread

Hello again.

I was using Arch for some years, then Debian (Wheezy, the currently stable release) for around a year because I got annoyed by all the maintenance with Arch. Now I am back to Arch because I got frustrated with outdated software (that was not free of known bugs... maybe server software has better support). Using up to date software for development got more important to me than "stability" in exchange for that. As I see it there is no alternative to Arch if you want that without building everything on your own.In between I used FreeBSD for quite some time. Nice thing with its license and release model (stable system distribution with rolling release packages on top). Unfortunately it feels a bit dusty (ports synchronization and build system was not my taste) and takes some time to compile all the packages (just like Gentoo). But if you want to take a look at something different from Arch or Linux in general FreeBSD is really wroth a try. Thats where ZFS was popular before Linux got it and before the alternative (BTRFS) came up.

For now rolling release of Arch with its binary packages and relatively low maintenance costs are what is what I want. So I am back

Re: The Official Hello Everyone Thread

Hello there.

Old Ubuntu/mint user here that finally decided to start tinkering for real. Today is the day that I install ArchLinux, and as a result I'm probably going to learn many new things and will ask many questions in the process; hopefully not to many stupid questions

Re: The Official Hello Everyone Thread

Good day everyone. I am currently starting the transition from Debian Testing to Arch. Was first introduced to Arch model on Manjaro. Moved to Debian Stable but although system stable, outdated software wasn't ideal.

Currently using Debian Testing on the Netbook (its purpose is only to browse internet, watch videos, youtube and listen to music, since I configured for my son to use).

Looking forward to step into the Arch world.

While at it, perhaps some users could point me into some posts for Awesome Window Manager configurations (just some basic stuff like themes and widgets).

Re: The Official Hello Everyone Thread

Haven't felt so thoroughly and unabashedly dorked-out in years; after mm 4 years of fooling around with archbang, then cinnarch, then manjaro (alongside the non-Arch-based distros of course), I finally went for it and successfully installed the Source itself of all these followers!

I had nearly convinced myself for all those years that it was the identical, that Arch users were pretentious or whatnot; but already in these first few minutes of using the real deal it's becoming quite clear, the system is nothing I don't want or don't cause it to be and become.

What finally made me realize I was being bamboozled into thinking these imitations were merely simplifications was when I started visiting http://allanmcrae.com/ -- and saw the cut corners and unsafe or unwise decisions made by the designers of Bridge, Manjaro, Antergos etc. And I could lie to myself no longer.

So here I am; and Yes I realize I sound like a complete idiot now but I had to solidify the experience and couldn't wait to say hello. Looking forward to asking you even more idiotic questions when I hit the Arch-wall!

Re: The Official Hello Everyone Thread

What a trip already, jeez. Coming from Ubuntu here and have hopped my way through many other distros. I'm finding my foray into Arch rather challenging(only in Virtualbox so far). Have found myself searching the forums a lot!

Re: The Official Hello Everyone Thread

Hello all,

I started out using Mint about a year ago but it was when I got fascinated by encrypted systems, LVM and compiling the required modules into the kernel that I felt I lacked a basic understanding of the whole OS. The Mint installer sorta obscured a lot of important things, like properly using fstab, cryttab, boothooks and configuring grub for instance. A friend (and linux guru) recently suggested Arch. I was simply amazed. The AUR is a godsend, the hybrid pxp radeon-intel package and hooks by Vi0L0 being a prime example. The arch wiki is comprehensive and easy to understand even for a newbie like me (a lot less of leafing through forums to get answers to seemingly simple questions) and the rolling release saves a ton of hassle. So far it's a genuine adventure.

Re: The Official Hello Everyone Thread

Hey everyone, Windows Gamer.

I've been using ArchLinux for a while now to squeeze some performance out of my now-dead machine and it's been going pretty well.I aspire to program my own video game someday and it's about time I stopped using Arch "experimentally to replace Windows" and actuallydelve into the world of Linux proper. I have had college experience with Fedora and programming in general but I was disappointed by my collegepretty thoroughly. It felt like taking high school programming all over again with a bit of networking and motherboard hotwiring thrown in.

I'm looking forward to really delving into this system, and I think packaging/developing for it will be a fascinating adventure andlearning experience that will serve me for years to come at the very least in day-to-day computing.

Re: The Official Hello Everyone Thread

Hi all,

I used Ubuntu for about 3 years before installing Arch a few weeks ago. I wanted to say thanks for giving me the best computing environment (as well as superb documentation) that I have ever experienced. I'm loving every minute of it.